Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

This was my first experiment with using the hRecipe microformat plugin. The plugin does not include a photo field, although the full hRecipe specification has provisions for a graphic. I failed to capture the moment last night when I made this, and this dish isn’t much of a looker anyway. The plugin seems to break the background gradient in my current theme, but I don’t care that much because this theme is getting a bit long in the tooth and I’ll replace it with a more up-to-date one some day when I have a couple of hours. (Don’t hold your breath!) The plugin did not automatically tag the ingredients, nor number the steps on my first go. I had to go back and edit the raw HTML, because I didn’t see a way to revise once you insert a recipe via the plugin. I’m guessing there is a way to make it do that in the first place and I should have RTFM. Oh well, I’m a very early adopter of the plugin, and it’s certainly better than nothing! Let’s see how the search engines like it.

Recipe: Vegan Mexican TVP

Ingredients

1.5 C TVP 1/2 C fresh cilantro chopped fine

2 tomatoes, diced

1 onion, chopped medium fine

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 avocado

1/2 tsp salt

6 C water

juice of one lime

Instructions

Salt the water and bring to the boil.

Meanwhile sautee the onions in the oil until carmelized.

When water boils, add the TVP and cook until it softens and quits swelling up.

350 made of veggies at Coburg Civic Centre, in the township of Moreland (the near north suburbs of Melbourne, Australia.) The white leaves are cabbage. It is a shame there were no rooftops to climb on to get a good angle on it and alas, Melbourne is flat and this district is pretty urban, so no green hillsides either. I gave a little schpiel on plarn at this do. (Search blog for plarn if you don’t know what that is.) Beyond Zero Emissions gave a very nice schpiel. Australia is a huge exporter of coal so there are a large number of anti-greens because they think of all the $$$ they will lose in the short run. But think about it! Australia uses only a tiny percentage of its own coal. It’s not about them, it’s about their CUSTOMERS! Many of their biggest coal customers are making great strides to reduce THEIR carbon, ergo use other fuels and reduce their coal. Australia would do better to anticipate this and come up with some alternate plan.

Bram Pitoyo’s Mushroom risotto

Tasty tasty rice dish. I guess I would call it Asian-Italian fusion style cooking. All my other risottos are more Italian in spices. Anyway Bram was kind enough to tweet this recipe to me on twitter so there you go.

Here is our mega Japanese sushi/tempura/sashimi platter from a Sydney Japanese restaurant. This platter easily satisfied the three of us. High marks for presentation. Definitely enough food. I hadn’t had tempura in years because I never order it. Between sushi and tempura there is just no comparison in my book, either nutritionally or taste wise. But I gotta admit, tempura sweet potatoes and eggplant are tasty, once you get the dipping sauce correct.

Here’s a quickie from our trip to Sydney. We had this delicious paella at Doyle’s in Watson’s Bay. The innovations were two: 1) The rice is apart and not cooked into the paella which gives you a much better appreciation for its delicate saffron taste. 2) There is no chorizo or sausage or any of that evil pig stuff.

chestnut flaxmeal flatbread

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Made without any wheat flour these are both vegetarian and safe for celiacs or gluten intolerant. They have a nutty slightly sweet flavor and can be made crunchy or soft depending on how much and what type of fat you choose, and how long you bake them. I prefer mine a little softer.

Pumpkin Lentil Soup

In Australia, the word pumpkin is used much more generally than it is in the USA. Almost any squash is called a pumpkin. Butternut squash was what I used in this recipe. This is a very simple recipe with minimal ingredients. It is vegan if you don’t top with a dollop of some dairy product.